# Heartfelt Disappointment



## kwiebe (Sep 10, 2010)

I'm a noob, but read enough to come to the conclusion Heartfelt beads was the way to go for humidification. So a month or so ago I bought the medium tube of beads from them for my smallish humidor. I did the volume calculation and the medium tube should have been more than adequate.

Bottom line the beads barely even get the humi to 65%, much less stabilize at all (59-63 is typical). I have repeatedly tried to rehydrate the beads, finally resorting to immersing the tube, which I purposely did just to see if they would get my humi to 65%, even for an hour or two. Well, doing that did get to 65%, but -- only for an hour or two.

I politely wrote two emails to Hearfelt asking what I could be doing wrong. Astonishingly, no reply.

I thought #1 this was a reliable product and #2, if all else failed, the company itself had good customer service. After everything I've read, I'm really shocked that they seem to have failed on both accounts. I had much better results with gel.

I'm sure the beads in the tube got moistened. After immersion, close to 100% were clear. Fact is, the beads still look clear; they just can't maintain 65% humidity, near as I can tell.

The only thing I can come up with is, defective or Heartfelt's volume figures are grossly optimistic. Grossly. It's just a 50-count humi and the seal is good too.

I guess it's back to gel for me. I never thought it would go like this after all I've read about Heartfelt. :ask:


----------



## Mr. Slick (Aug 17, 2010)

submerging the beads is a bad idea. 

Things to consider:
Is your humi fullish or emptyish
how did you season the humi
check the hygrometer.

I've been running two of the medium 65% tubes in a 100 ct humi and the rh stays at 63% like clockwork.


----------



## veteranvmb (Aug 6, 2009)

I cannot live with the beads when the weather is dry. It works for me fine during the summer, but not in the cooler, dryer weather. 
I am perfectly content using floral foam and a humidity jar of gel or two, depending on size of humi. 
About every two weeks, they need about two minutes worth of maintenace for six 150 count humis, and 3 fifty counts. Easy as pie, if you obey the rules. LOL

J


----------



## Sarge (Nov 21, 2010)

kwiebe said:


> I'm a noob, but read enough to come to the conclusion Heartfelt beads was the way to go for humidification. So a month or so ago I bought the medium tube of beads from them for my smallish humidor. I did the volume calculation and the medium tube should have been more than adequate.
> 
> Bottom line the beads barely even get the humi to 65%, much less stabilize at all (59-63 is typical). I have repeatedly tried to rehydrate the beads, finally resorting to immersing the tube, which I purposely did just to see if they would get my humi to 65%, even for an hour or two. Well, doing that did get to 65%, but -- only for an hour or two.
> 
> ...


same... I sent inquiry, only once, that went w/o reply. That's bad business if you ask me. No effort or desire to try to help me. I too ordered enough according to their chart. Seems general consensus is buy twice as much though. Right now I'm still using the beads but I'm also using Kitty Litter. Beads for the bottom two drawers while the Kitty Litter covers the top. Probably wind up using the beads for tupperdors till they go bad. Needless to say as nice as they might be I don't foresee myself purchasing anything else from them anytime soon. More so simply because the email went w/o reply. That's just bad business and if you don't care to take a minute to send a customer a response you have no business getting mine. Plus while you might have to toy around a bit configuring Kitty Litter it seems to cost less in the long run. Sorry to hear your experience was similar to mine.


----------



## Dei3Nascar8 (Nov 24, 2010)

That sucks did you try to call them? Maybe the person on the email chain is on vacation or something? I have never had a problem with my 70% beads. I recently aquired a second humi and after elimination half my cigars to the new one I had a humidity spike. I took out all the beads let them dry and put them back in. They absorded water and dropped the humidity back down. I am drying them one more time and will wet one tube (2 dry) and should be good to go. Never contacted customer service but never had a reason to either.


----------



## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

Not trying to cover for Heartfelt, but here are my thoughts:

-Soaking the beads in water probably diluted the salts from the beads. You won't be able to hold as much water once the salt is gone from the beads.

-Smaller humidor leaks humidity more than their larger cousin. Period. Especially cheaper ones. Cheap Chinese humidors also tends to leak from the bottom if it's paper thin.

-Season your humidor. Re-season it if you have to. Go through Herf N Turf's sticky note on how to do this.

-Beads & KL only works if the humidor holds humidity well. I'd recommend gel jars for anything that has leaks like you see in yours in the dry season.


----------



## kwiebe (Sep 10, 2010)

Thanks for replies. Interesting about veteran's experience, that sounds like the exact same scenario and the way I am leaning also.

If a business advertises an email address, it's on them to ensure no technical issues, interfering vacations, etc. In other words, do they have email customer service, or not? (apparently not) You wouldn't advertise a phone number then not answer the phone when a customer called, and the same is true with email. I could see one email 'lost' - but two from me and apparently others have run into this. No excuse.

Sad thing is, it's their loss.


----------



## kwiebe (Sep 10, 2010)

Tman said:


> Not trying to cover for Heartfelt, but here are my thoughts:
> 
> -Soaking the beads in water probably diluted the salts from the beads. You won't be able to hold as much water once the salt is gone from the beads.
> 
> ...


Thanks. Didn't really 'soak' the beads though, so I don't think your theory about salts applies. The way the tubes work, they are resistant to water coming through the slits anyway; the immersion was just a shortcut 'hitting all the slits at once'. Nothing different than the way the tubes normally are hydrated, other than that (I actually only submerged the lower half of the tube, then rolled it, just to speed the water getting in).

I think the humi is seasoned OK. I do think what you said about using gel during dry season applies to me.


----------



## krisko (Jul 28, 2007)

I have a few bags of Heartfelt and they've flawless kept my 70qt cooler at 63% humidity for years now. Phenomenal product.

I would say your beads are destroyed and may not even resemble beads now. I was told not to add water directly to the beads because they would implode (or something like that). I placed a snifter of distilled water in the cooler and over 6 months or so it would evaporate depending upon time of year.

As for your 59-63 range, I think that's optimal (personal taste). In winter I can't get my regular humidor over 59 and that's just fine. How often are you going to the humidor to check it? In the winter if you open it daily I would imagine the humidity never gets a chance to climb. As someone else said, if the humi is loaded down then no product will get the humidity into the range you want it to. Obviously the actual humidor construction is a huge factor as well.

As far as the lack of customer service, that is unfortunate. While I'm not sure Heartfelt is on the hook for new beads, they will probably replace them. They should've instructed you not to soak the beads and been available when issues arose. Good luck.


----------



## gator_79 (Sep 16, 2009)

I have a 150 ct. humi with 6 oz. of beads in it and during the sumer it holds perfect at 65%. During the winter it drops to 60-65%. I am fine with this as long as it don't get below 60%. I have a 65 qt cooler with 1 pound in it and it maintains at 60-65% the same as the humi. My cigars are smoking well and I am happy. I hydrate them every 2 weeks other than that I just let it be.


----------



## Zfog (Oct 16, 2010)

From my experience its all about the humi. Most of the time it comes down to how it was seasoned or the thing leaking. My beads hold dead nuts 65% as long as I am not opening my humi 24/7!



kwiebe said:


> Thanks. Didn't really 'soak' the beads though, so I don't think your theory about salts applies. The way the tubes work, they are resistant to water coming through the slits anyway; the immersion was just a shortcut 'hitting all the slits at once'. Nothing different than the way the tubes normally are hydrated, other than that (I actually only submerged the lower half of the tube, then rolled it, just to speed the water getting in).
> 
> I think the humi is seasoned OK. I do think what you said about using gel during dry season applies to me.


----------



## flyfisher86 (Aug 20, 2010)

For the few years I have been smoking cigars, heartfelt beads always have given me a little trouble in the Winter months. Probably because I open the humidor way too many times. During the Spring/Summer/Fall the beads work just fine. During the Winter I use Xikar gel and it seems to hold right around 65-68 just where I want it.

As for the customer service, I have never had an issue with David, he is a great guy. Heartfelt is a small business not a giant corporation so it may take a day or two to get a reply back when sending a email.


----------



## Stogin (Dec 1, 2010)

Great, just bought a pound of these and I see this post...

I've yet to put them to work yet, still need to get some baggies from the pet store and a spray bottle... I do have some Cigar Mechanic 70% beads and they work phenomenally, even after I submerge them (which is what CM tells you to do) However I have noticed that the humidity is down to a more 65% area, which I am absolutely OK with


----------



## Krioni (Oct 29, 2010)

I have the beads in my 2 humis (100 count each). They all have held steady at 64% or 65%. I lightly distilled watered them at a 60% very lightly damp to 40% dry.

In my coolidor, I was light on beads so I supplemented with kitty litter. Again, I very lightly dampened the beads (a pound of them) with the 60%-40% ratio and did a bit more on the kitty litter, but not much. Then I put a small glass container of distilled water inside to let it season a bit. This is the 4th day and it's holding steady at 65%RH. I only have introduced about 35 cigars in it so far and it dropped down a few % but then stabilized this evening.

I think that lightly spraying or dampening the beads is the key. Kitty litter doesn't seem to be so picky. Just my very limited experience so far. Good luck getting your humi all seasoned.

Happy New Year!


----------



## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

Stogin said:


> Great, just bought a pound of these and I see this post...
> 
> I've yet to put them to work yet, still need to get some baggies from the pet store and a spray bottle... I do have some Cigar Mechanic 70% beads and they work phenomenally, even after I submerge them (which is what CM tells you to do) However I have noticed that the humidity is down to a more 65% area, which I am absolutely OK with


I do see that the Cigar Mechanic tells you to soak the beads. I'm guessing these are pure silica gels. My guess is they are not buffered with salts like the Heartfelt beads.


----------



## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

I've got to believe as the others have said about ensuring that your humidor is seasoned the right way and that you 'spritz' the beads with water. A lot of wood humidors take longer than a day or two...I've had a few humidors that took about 3-5 days to be seasoned right and once it was done passively I put the beads back in and it was dead on 65%. Ensure your hygrometer is correct as well. 

I have about 10 Tupperdors and have beads in most of them and keep enough cedar to help regulate the RH and one thing about a Tupperador...you don't need to season it...it's Plug N Play and very easy to use. Wood humis are nice and fun to show off but if they aren't seasoned right you will deal with this aftermath of trying to keep it steady.


----------



## ducman (Feb 6, 2010)

A simple way to tell if it is your humidor or the beads is to get a tupperware container about the same size as the humidor and put the charged beads and hygrometer in it and seal the lid. In less than a day the humidity should be correct. If so, then your humi either is not seasoned properly or leaks significantly. If not, then the beads are bad.


----------



## Tman (Sep 12, 2010)

ducman said:


> A simple way to tell if it is your humidor or the beads is to get a tupperware container about the same size as the humidor and put the charged beads and hygrometer in it and seal the lid. In less than a day the humidity should be correct. If so, then your humi either is not seasoned properly or leaks significantly. If not, then the beads are bad.


Simple yet elegant! I like it! :biggrin: Don't forget it could be either of the three: Beads, humidor, or the hygrometer.


----------



## Zeuceone (Jan 1, 2011)

Ill have to get me some beads due to the winter.


----------



## ktblunden (Oct 7, 2010)

When I got my 65% beads going back in Oct they were holding right around 64%. Right now with the colder weather they're more like 61-62%. This seems to be the norm from what others have said, so I can live with that. I might order some more beads and stick them in the cheap rectangle humidifiers that came with the humi just to help keep it stabilized a little better in winter.


----------



## gibson_es (Jan 23, 2010)

I never emailed him. I called. And he was always very kind on the phone, and even paid to reship after I had a personal problem with my local post office. My humidor don't hold humidity very well. I use three times the beads needed and now it is right were I want it. So I put three times the amount in my smaller humi and it holds amazing. I would venture to say its not the beads. Could be the humi, the way you give the beads water, I use a spray bottle, or it could be the tube its self as I have read a few people not lurking to tube, but its not the beads. Though they may give you issues now that you soaked them. Bad idea. I will say it is not good that he is not emailing you back. I would call him, oh may have to leave a message but he should call you back. He always did me. I hope you get this squared away. , I would reseason the humidor.and don't open it on a daily basis for a while. Just to get it "warmed up"


----------



## bazookajoe (Nov 2, 2006)

Although I see he hasn't checked in for a few weeks, David is a member here (Viper139)—he may have his account set up to notify him by email when he gets a PM if you feel like trying that.

I've had good luck with the beads but it can take a while with a smaller amount, even though it's the right amount. I have 2 lbs. in my big humidor and two small tubes in a 300 ct. and they remain steady. Whether you have bad beads or some other problem it's worth getting to the bottom of it. I'm sure if you can get in contact with David he'll help you get it straightened out. It is odd that he hasn't responded...


----------



## 1029henry (Jan 18, 2010)

Yes, David's service is usually impeccable.

Also, I've discovered the hard way that the only humidors that will reliably hold RH are expensive hand-made ones, the cheaper ones just don't get the job done. Tupperdors ALWAYS have a good seal, besides, I couldn't care less about the elegant looks, I just wanna stash my cigars!


----------



## KcJason1 (Oct 20, 2010)

I received a humidor about a month ago and after 4 days of seasoning per Herf N Turfs thread, I put new beads in it... They hold dead at 69-70... There are many factors you need to check on. I don't believe it to be your beads.


----------



## aroma (Apr 12, 2010)

I'm having the same experience as many in this thread. The ambient RH here is in the low 30s in the winter, and my cheap humidors lose humidity pretty quickly, even with multiple times the minimum amount of beads.

I've found that I can put a small piece of wet sponge in a tiny tray and just rotate it between the humidors every few days, and the RH stays close to constant.

My coolerdor and the one better-constructed wood humidor I own (a Madison from famous-smoke) are holding RH fine with just beads, as long as I don't open them frequently.

Based on this, I wouldn't blame the beads.


----------



## Animal (Sep 27, 2010)

aroma said:


> I'm having the same experience as many in this thread. The ambient RH here is in the low 30s in the winter, and my cheap humidors lose humidity pretty quickly, even with multiple times the minimum amount of beads.
> 
> I've found that I can put a small piece of wet sponge in a tiny tray and just rotate it between the humidors every few days, and the RH stays close to constant.
> 
> ...


I have the same issue here with the low temps and humidity. My humidors just weren't cutting it, so I moved everything to a cooler.

I haven't received the beads I ordered yet, so in the meantime I have a square cut from a puppy training pad soaked in distilled water and placed in a ventilated tupperware container. The humidity has been dead on at 68% in the cooler.

Also, the puppy pads I have are chemical free and unscented :thumb:


----------



## Mr. Slick (Aug 17, 2010)

as the op mentioned he was having trouble getting water to permiate the tube. . I have found this to be true but all it takes is a couple extra sprays. 

+1 for heartfelts customer service on my end: Monday I ordered an lb of beads and an empty tube. Yesterday I received the beads but the tube was mia. I called heartfelt and he said he would be happy to send the tube in the morning. Friendly and timely. No problems here


----------



## xhris (Sep 7, 2006)

I have the same experience with my 65% beads reading around 62-63% in the dryer months. 

I think beads do an excellent job of keeping humidity constant, but they struggle with sudden drops in humidity and take a while to catch up. Still, anywhere between 60 and 65% is fine by me...

EDIT

I've noticed that humidity spikes (summer) are quickly corrected while drops take a while to catch up. I guess the beads naturally absorb moisture faster than they release it, but im no expert, just what ive noticed.


----------



## Herf N Turf (Dec 31, 2008)

To the OP:

That tube of beads you immersed is shot. No saving it. Without the benefit of the covalently bound salts, the silica gel reverts back to it's native moisture retention, which is about 45-50% (there is a complicated formula for calculating this, so I am generalizing). It's the salts, which cause the beads to release moisture at higher levels than plain silica. Once rinsed way, it's game over.

"Smallish" humidors are notoriously difficult to stablize and are bad at retaining moisture. There are many factors here, including, but not exclusive to, little wood surface area, poor seals, too little air volume, the fact that opening it disburses all the air's moisture immediately. 

If you want to see success with a small humidor in dry months, you need to 1) ensure the seal is extremely tight, 2) Check to see that the floor isn't paper thin (which they usually are, 3) use a minimum of double the amount of beads calculated, 4) only open it once you've decided what to smoke and then close it up fast.

As suggested, always suspect a cheap hygrometer. Just because a hygrometer is digital, doesn't mean it's accurate.

It's essential that beads are strategically placed throughout the humidor. The lid is the single least effective place to place them. The floor is best. In one of my larger boxes, I have them in five different locations, all running at different levels of saturation.

Hope this helps.


----------



## aroma (Apr 12, 2010)

aroma said:


> I've found that I can put a small piece of wet sponge in a tiny tray and just rotate it between the humidors every few days, and the RH stays close to constant.


Just in case that wasn't clear: the wet sponge is *in addition to* the beads, only in the winter, when ambient RH is low.


----------



## TrainSmoke (Feb 16, 2011)

I apologize for resurrecting this thread, but I'd like to add a couple of things. I buy a lot from Mom and Pop on-line businesses and cut them some slack because they have other aspects of life to attend to. I got two tubes of Heartfelt beads from David, with instant and excellent service. It's taking me a bit of time to learn how to use them. 

Rather than two "jaridors," I'm now using a six-pack cooler. The local B&M gave me a bunch of spanish cedar shims, some 1/4" thick and I've added some (well dampened) to the small cooler. It gives it a HUGE improvement in humidity "flywheel" effect, i.e. opening the cooler doesn't change the humidity at all. 

I put the beads in while I could turn the tubes and see water running from top to bottom. That's dried out a bit, but the humidity is running right at 70% on the meter. I'm not sure what I'm looking at when viewing the beads, but I'm leaving them out for an hour at a time to see if they'll dry out and it will come down. I expect that to take some time due to the cedar, but am pretty impressed with the consistency so far.


----------



## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

TrainSmoke said:


> I apologize for resurrecting this thread, but I'd like to add a couple of things. I buy a lot from Mom and Pop on-line businesses and cut them some slack because they have other aspects of life to attend to. I got two tubes of Heartfelt beads from David, with instant and excellent service. It's taking me a bit of time to learn how to use them.
> 
> Rather than two "jaridors," I'm now using a six-pack cooler. The local B&M gave me a bunch of spanish cedar shims, some 1/4" thick and I've added some (well dampened) to the small cooler. It gives it a HUGE improvement in humidity "flywheel" effect, i.e. opening the cooler doesn't change the humidity at all.
> 
> I put the beads in while I could turn the tubes and see water running from top to bottom. That's dried out a bit, but the humidity is running right at 70% on the meter. I'm not sure what I'm looking at when viewing the beads, but I'm leaving them out for an hour at a time to see if they'll dry out and it will come down. I expect that to take some time due to the cedar, but am *pretty impressed with the consistency so far.*


In the world of passive cigar humidification there is absolutely nothing better. :tu


----------



## Tritones (Jun 23, 2010)

Habanolover said:


> In the world of passive cigar humidification ...


Those are words that are best spoken from an overstuffed leather chair in a room slightly dim with the smoke of fine cigars held in the hands of good friends whose other hands hold glasses of port, scotch, rum ...

Ahhhhhh ...

If I didn't have to spread the love some more first, I'd bump you just for that phrase.


----------

